Reach.ly

Analytics tool for e-Commerce sites

Description

Reach.ly was an analytics tool for e-commerce sites providing actionable customer behavior patterns. It engaged in a real-time analytics infrastructure, which allowed e-commerce sites engage with their customers through customized messages. Their websites tailored to uncover customer behavior and enable real-time personalization. It helped the site owners understand sales and conversion rate comparison between various channels. The customers’ behavior patterns were uncovered by deploying machine for recognizing patterns and learning.

Stats

Category

Analytics

Country

Latvia

Started

In 2011

Closed

By 2015

Number of Founders

One

Name of Founders

Ernests Štāls

Number of Employees

Between 1 And 10

Number of Funding Rounds

3

Total Funding Amount

€200K

Number of Investors

2

Precise Cause of Failure

Multiple Reasons

Business Outcome

Shut Down

Cause of Failure

Reach.ly had purposed two
objectives before its closure in 2015. Its iterations were behavioral analytics
for e-commerce and Twitter mining solutions for hotel industries. The company,
by the CEO own admission, failed because it mixed up ideas and models of the
previous business into the new venture. Reach.ly did not start afresh but kept
all the previous undertakings in operation. It lacked room for other investors
and only survived on the CEO shares. Secondly, technology failed them terribly.
It started out big but it did not scale up, the regret was that it could have
started with a simple stack to test the idea. The free hosting received from
Soft layer led the company to spend too much on technology without a single
customer or a working prototype.

Lack of proper market
feedback and pilot client was also a setback. It did not create appropriate
tracking solution and their data set had loopholes. Without any consultation,
they switched to another platform called Shopify with standardized API and app
marketplace. It turned out that the Shopify players were smaller than expected
and thus failed to serve Reach.ly goals. Lastly, the initial team recruited was
heavily technology-centric and lacked teamwork, passion and business vision. A
big part of the team eventually left the firm or was let go; precious time and
resources were spent to find a new committed and talented team. Had this been
done from the beginning the company might have has a better chance of
succeeding.

A big resource for entrepreneurs and startup owners, in which we have collected and analyzed why +100 big companies have failed. Learn from mistakes, and avoid being part of the 90% of businesses that fail.

Reach.ly was an analytics tool for e-commerce sites providing actionable customer behavior patterns. It engaged in a real-time analytics infrastructure, which allowed e-commerce sites engage with their customers through customized messages. Their websites tailored to uncover customer behavior and enable real-time personalization. It helped the site owners understand sales and conversion rate comparison between various channels. The customers’ behavior patterns were uncovered by deploying machine for recognizing patterns and learning.

Cause of Failure

Reach.ly had purposed two
objectives before its closure in 2015. Its iterations were behavioral analytics
for e-commerce and Twitter mining solutions for hotel industries. The company,
by the CEO own admission, failed because it mixed up ideas and models of the
previous business into the new venture. Reach.ly did not start afresh but kept
all the previous undertakings in operation. It lacked room for other investors
and only survived on the CEO shares. Secondly, technology failed them terribly.
It started out big but it did not scale up, the regret was that it could have
started with a simple stack to test the idea. The free hosting received from
Soft layer led the company to spend too much on technology without a single
customer or a working prototype.

Lack of proper market
feedback and pilot client was also a setback. It did not create appropriate
tracking solution and their data set had loopholes. Without any consultation,
they switched to another platform called Shopify with standardized API and app
marketplace. It turned out that the Shopify players were smaller than expected
and thus failed to serve Reach.ly goals. Lastly, the initial team recruited was
heavily technology-centric and lacked teamwork, passion and business vision. A
big part of the team eventually left the firm or was let go; precious time and
resources were spent to find a new committed and talented team. Had this been
done from the beginning the company might have has a better chance of
succeeding.